Restriction Endonucleases

Made by :
Adel Mohie

Under supervision of
Dr:Sofia Khalil
 What are restriction enzymes?

• Molecular scissors that cut double stranded

DNA molecules at specific points.

• Found naturally in a wide variety of

prokaryotes

• An important tool for manipulating DNA.

 Biological Role
• Most bacteria use Restriction Enzymes as a
defence against bacteriophages.
• Restriction enzymes prevent the replication of
the phage by cleaving its DNA at specific sites.
• The host DNA is protected by Methylases which
add methyl groups to adenine or cytosine bases
within the recognition site thereby modifying the
site and protecting the DNA.
MOLECULARRestriction
SCISSORS enzymes are
molecular scissors
 History Of Restriction Enzyme
• First restriction enzyme was isoltaed in 1970 by
Hindll.

• He also done the subsequent discovery and

characterization of numerous restriction
endonucleases.

• From then Over 3000 restriction enzymes have

been studied in detail, and more than 600 of
these are available commercially and are
routinely used for DNA modification and
manipulation in laboratories.
 Mechanism of Action

Restriction Endonuclease scan the length of the DNA

, binds to the DNA molecule when it recognizes a
specific sequence and makes one cut in each of the
sugar phosphate backbones of the double helix – by
hydrolyzing the phoshphodiester bond.
Specifically,the bond between the 3’ O atom and the
P atom is broken.
Direct hydrolysis by nucleophilic attack at the
phosphorous atom

3’OH and 5’ PO43- is produced. Mg2+ is required for

the catalytic activity of the enzyme. It holds the
water molecule in a position where it can attack the
phosphoryl group and also helps polarize the water
molecule towards deprotonation .
 Palindrome Sequences
• The mirror like palindrome in which the same forward
and backwards are on a single strand of DNA strand, as
in GTAATG
• The Inverted repeat palindromes is also a sequence that
reads the same forward and backwards, but the forward
and backward sequences are found in complementary
DNA strands (GTATAC being complementary to CATATG)
• Inverted repeat palindromes are more common and
have greater biological importance than mirror- like
palindromes.
 Ends Of Restriction Fragments

Blunt ends

Sticky ends
 Blunt ends
• Some restriction enzymes cut DNA at opposite base
• They leave blunt ended DNA fragments
• These blunt ended fragments can be joined to any other
DNA fragment with blunt ends.
• Enzymes useful for certain types of DNA cloning experiments
.
 Sticky ends
• Most restriction enzymes make staggered
cuts
• Staggered cuts produce single stranded
“sticky-ends”
 “Sticky Ends” Are Useful

DNA fragments with complimentary sticky ends

can be combined to create new molecules which
allows the creation and manipulation of DNA
sequences from different sources.
 ISOSCHIZOMERS & NEOSCHIZOMERS

• Restriction enzymes that have the same recognition

sequence as well as the same cleavage site are Isoschizomers
• Restriction enzymes that have the same recognition
sequence but cleave the DNA at a different site within that
sequence are Neoshizomers

Eg: SmaI and XmaI

CCCGGG CCCGGG
GGGCCC GGGCCC
Xma I Sma I
 NOMENCLATURE OF RESTRICTION ENZYME
• Each enzyme is named after the bacterium from
which it was isolated using a naming system based
on bacterial genus, species and strain.
For e.g EcoRI
Derivation of the EcoRI name

Abbreviation Meaning Description

E Escherichia genus

co coli species

R RY13 strain

order of identification
I First identified
in the bacterium
 TYPES OF RESTRICTION ENZYMES

• Restriction endonucleases are categorized into

three general groups.

• Type I
• Type II
• Type III
• These types are categorization based on:

Their composition.
Enzyme co-factor requirement.
the nature of their target sequence.
position of their DNA cleavage site relative to
the target sequence.
 Type I
• Capable of both restriction and modification
activities
• The co factors S-Adenosyl Methionine(AdoMet), ATP,
and mg+are required for their full activity
• Contain:
two R(restriction) subunits
two M(methylation) subunits
one S(specifity) subunits
• Cleave DNA at random length from recognition sites
 Type II
• These are the most commonly available and used
restriction enzymes
• They are composed of only one subunit.
• Their recognition sites are usually undivided and
palindromic and 4-8 nucleotides in length,
• they recognize and cleave DNA at the same site.
• They do not use ATP for their activity
• they usually require only Mg2+ as a cofactor.
 Type III
• Type III restriction enzymes ) recognize two separate
non-palindromic sequences that are inversely
oriented.
• They cut DNA about 20-30 base pairs after the
recognition site.
• These enzymes contain more than one subunit.
• And require AdoMet and ATP cofactors for their roles
in DNA methylation and restriction
 Type IV
• Cleave only normal and modified DNA
(methylated, hydroxymethylated and glucosyl-
hydroxymethylated bases).
• Recognition sequences have not been well
defined
• Cleavage takes place ~30 bp away from one of
the sites
 APPLICATION OF RESTRICTION ENZYMES

• They are used in gene cloning and protein expression

experiments.

• Restriction enzymes are used in biotechnology to cut

DNA into smaller strands in order to study fragment
length differences among individuals (Restriction
Fragment Length Polymorphism – RFLP).

• Each of these methods depends on the use of

agarose gel electrophoresis for separation of the
DNA fragments.
 What is RFLP

RFLP is a difference in homologous

DNA sequences that can be detected by the
presence of fragments of different lengths after
digestion of the DNA samples.
Method of DNA analysis by RFLP

The method of analysis of DNA by RFLP involves

the following steps:

1- In the first step fragmentation of a sample of

DNA is done by a restriction enzyme, which can
recognize and cut DNA wherever a specific
short sequence occurs, in a process known as a
restriction digest.
2- The resulting DNA fragments are then separated by
length through a process known as agarose gel
electrophoresis.

3- Then transferred to a membrane via the Southern blot

procedure.

4- Hybridization of the membrane to a labeled DNA

probe will done and then determines the length of the
fragments which are complementary to the probe.
5- Then we will observe the fragments of different
length.

An RFLP occurs when the length of a detected

fragment varies between individuals. Each fragment
length is considered an allele, and can be used in
genetic analysis.